30-Year Sentences Handed Down In Tracy Teen Torture Case
STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — Three adults who admitted to holding captive and torturing a 16-year-old boy for more than a year are each headed to prison for at least 30 years.
Michael Schumacher, his wife Kelly Lau and the teen's legal guardian Caren Ramirez learned their fates Monday after pleading guilty in October to more than a dozen felonies.
Ramirez got the harshest sentence of 34 years, while Lau got 33 years and Schumacher got 30 years behind bars.
Prosecutors say the victim was beaten, burned and starved at the Tracy home of Schumacher and Lau. In December 2008, he escaped to a nearby fitness center covered in soot and wearing a chain around his ankle.
A fourth defendant, neighbor Anthony Waiters, was convicted at trial. He faces life in prison when sentenced next month.
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